Pim Ligthart abandoned the Tour of Turkey due to fatigue but after a short break he is getting back into form. Today he finished third in the hard fourth stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné.

Today Pim Ligthart became third in the fourth stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné. About 21 kilometers after the start in Montélimar a front group of thirteen riders was formed with apart from Ligthart among other Jan Bakelants, Bob Jungels, Lars Petter Nordhaug and Yuri Trofimov. They got up to 4'50" lead.

In the final the Col de Manse (2nd category) was located: 9.6 kilometers long with an average gradient of 5.2%. Trofimov got away on the climb, his companions wouldn't see him again. After the top 12.5 descending kilometers followed towards the finish in Gap.

23 seconds after Trofimov Gustav Larsson became second, two seconds later Ligthart crossed the finish line as third. The GC riders kept calm today. Jurgen Van den Broeck is still fifth in the overall at 35 seconds of leader Chris Froome.

"Until the Col de Manse there was a good collaboration," Ligthart said. "Our advantage stayed long about four minutes. At that point you don't know if the guys in the peloton will race. We had about two minutes at the foot of the climb, we had a fifty-fifty chance of surviving. Eventually the favourites didn't attack.

"On the Col de Manse I was close to my limit, while others were attacking. I could just hold on. In the descent I lost some ground, but could join the others again and sprinted to place three. Of course you want to win when you're part of a break that stays ahead till the finish, but today this was probably the best possible result. The strongest man won.

"The goal this week is that Jurgen Van den Broeck maintains a good position in GC. When I am asked to try to join a breakaway again I will definitely do the best I can."

"I abandoned the Tour of Turkey in the third stage, I didn't have energy left after the spring races. Then I put the bike aside for some days and cleared my head. Afterwards I went on a training camp in Mallorca.

"In the Belgium Tour I got back in competition. I immediately noticed I made progression every day. In the tough last stage for example I could do a very good job for Kris Boeckmans and Greg Henderson who aimed for a bunch sprint.

"Here in the Dauphiné I also notice it's getting better each day; my shape is good. I'm always good at the time of the Dutch national championship. The fact that the race takes place in Ootmarsum, where I took the title in 2011, is extra good for the morale."